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Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 20 general entries.
Special Topics
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Weather Songs
Radiohead. Although "Hail to the Thief" was certainly a successful album, its fourteen week run on the chart doesn't bear too much comparison with Radiohead's "The Bends" which spent over three years in the top one hundred!
The Stranglers. "Always the Sun" was a later hit for The Stranglers reaching number 30 in 1986. Previously they had achieved six top ten hits.
Prince. The credits from this hit went to Prince and the New Power Generation. It reached number 28 in the UK charts.
Lindisfarne. Lindisfarne were from the Newcastle area and the 1990 version of "Fog on the Tyne" included vocals by local footballer Paul Gascoigne; I'm sure it was 'Gazza's' beautiful voice that had people buying this version!
The Move. BBC Radio 1 started broadcasting in 1967, it was the first authorised radio station in the UK dedicated to playing pop and rock music. Before this we had to listen to the 'pirate stations' broadcasting from the North sea.
The Isley Brothers. "Summer Breeze" got to number sixteen in 1974. The Isley Brothers' first hit in Britain was with "Twist and Shout" in 1963, a song covered by a band from Liverpool, can't think of their name.
Bob Dylan. Both Joan Baez and Neil Young have covered "Blowing in the Wind" but it was written by Bob Dylan. The highest chart position that the song achieved in Britain was number thirteen; Peter, Paul and Mary achieved this in 1963.
Cream. I guess most of you already know the links between these groups but just in case; Eric Clapton was a member of The Yardbirds, Cream and Blind Faith; Steve Winwood was in Traffic and Blind Faith; Ginger Baker was in Cream and Blind Faith, great bands all.
Howlin' Wolf. Covered by many blues acts including The Yardbirds (who altered and added to the original lyrics), few are brave enough to emulate Howlin' Wolf's famous howl; electrifying and scary.
| Irish lyricist Jimmy Kennedy loved to spend his evenings watching boats sail by, just as the sun was going down. He wrote about his feelings and then teamed up with Vienna born composer Will Grosz (writing as "Hugh Williams").
Together in 1935, they came up with a tune that reflected Kennedy's feelings about his sightings. Can you fill in the missing first word in the title of "______ Sails in the Sunset"? | Play "Misty" for Me : Weather Related Songs
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Red. This beautiful song has been recorded by a potpourri of artists including Guy Lombardo and Bing Crosby (1935), The Platters (1960), Fats Domino (1963), Dave Brubeck (1999) and Engelbert Humperdinck (2000).
The most popular version was covered by Nat "King" Cole who took it to the 24th spot on the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart in July, 1951.
| When folks step outside and see papers, cans and other assorted items flying by, everyone knows it's "Windy". Gary Lewis and the Playboys included it in their 1968 album, "Gary Lewis Now!". A year earlier however, another group had taken it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 list, in July 1967.
Can you guess that group? | Play "Misty" for Me : Weather Related Songs
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The Association. The California rock band was originally started by Jules Alexander and Terry Kirkman, who along with a few others had earlier played together as The Men. "Windy" was written by folk singer Ruthann Friedman and recorded by The Association on the Warner Brother's label. It sold over a million copies, as did a couple of their other songs, such as "Cherish" and "Along Comes Mary" both in 1966. In 1967, their "Never My Love" reached number one on the Cash Box chart.
| "Frosty the Snowman" told the story of "a jolly happy soul, with a corncob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of coal". This holiday song was written by Jack Rollins and Steve Nelson in 1950 after the success of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" a year earlier. Many artists have recorded it, but who had the first version, the one that reached number seven on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart?
| Play "Misty" for Me : Weather Related Songs
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Gene Autry. Gene Autry also had the big hit with "Rudolph" in 1949, which was written by Johnny Marks. The Cass County Boys accompanied "The Singing Cowboy" on the "Frosty" version that is still one of the Christmas holidays' most popular tunes, despite the fact that the word "Christmas" is never mentioned in the song.
In addition to Fats and Dino, others who have covered it are Perry Como, Jimmy Durante, Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn.
Interesting fact: The first song ever to be designated number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart was Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool" in 1958.
| When you hear someone say they are "On cloud nine", you know they are euphorically happy and content. But not everyone is willing to share. Do you remember which band took the rather rude sounding, "Get off My Cloud", to the top of the charts? | Play "Misty" for Me : Weather Related Songs
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The Rolling Stones. With lyrics written by Mick Jagger and music composed by Keith Richards, The Stones recorded it in 1965. It came out just a few months after their smash hit, "I Can't Get No Satisfaction". It quickly zoomed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 list and remained there for a couple of weeks.
In December 1965, it was included on their album, "December's Children".
| I suppose if you asked a lot of folks what their least favorite day of the week is, many of them would say Monday. The weekend is over and it's back to school or back to work. In 1971 a pair of siblings sang about another, weather related condition that contributed to the general malaise about the first workday of the week. Do you remember the title? What kind of days were they?
What days were they? | Play "Misty" for Me : Weather Related Songs
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Rainy Days and Mondays. The brother-sister act was The Carpenters, Richard and Karen.
Sales of "Rainy Days and Mondays" ("always get me down") certainly didn't get them down, as it hit the top spot on U.S. Billboard's Easy Listening chart, and number two on U.S. Billboard's Hot 100 chart.
Interesting fact: In 2004 Olivia Newton-John included it on her album, "Indigo-Women of Song". She did so to honor her friend, Karen, who died in 1983.
| "Don't know why, there's no sun up in the sky" is the lead into "Stormy Weather". It's a song about a broken relationship and the feelings of the jilted lover. Ted Kohler and Harold Arlen penned it in 1933. Considered one of the greatest songs ever written, it has been recorded by dozens of singers. Whose version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame? (The answer might surprise you.) | Play "Misty" for Me : Weather Related Songs
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Ethel Waters. Ms. Waters sang it at the Cotton Club in Harlem, N.Y. in 1933, before she recorded it later that same year.
It was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003.
Among the others who covered it were Judy Garland, Shirley Bassey, Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday.
Interesting fact: "Stormy Weather" can be heard being played on the piano in the 1950 Bette Davis classic film, "All About Eve".
| Brrr! "Cold, Cold Heart" was written by legendary Country and Western singer-songwriter Hank Williams. He recorded it on the MGM label and it reached number one on U.S. pop charts. Popular around the world, it has been recorded in several languages. Who was the well known singer who had a hit Spanish version of it under the title of "Tu Frio Corazon" in 2006? | Play "Misty" for Me : Weather Related Songs
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Freddie Fender. Freddie (sometimes known as "Freddy") Fender, who was born Baldemar Garza Huerta, recorded it on his album "Siempre", which was released January 1, 2006.
Williams wrote it in 1951 and recorded it the same year.
Many popular singers have covered it over the years, including such diverse artists as Louis Armstrong, Petula Clark, Johnny Cash, and "Bill Haley and the Comets".
Interesting fact: Tony Bennett sang "Cold, Cold Heart" at the Grand Ole Opry in the 1950s.
| Who doesn't love summertime, when the living is easy? No school for the kids, vacations at the shore. OK, so TV is mostly re-runs, but you can't have everything. Nat King Cole reminded us of those good times when he sang about "Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer". The actual first line of the tune is "Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer". Can you complete the second line: "Those days of soda and pretzels and_______". | Play "Misty" for Me : Weather Related Songs
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Beer. Nathaniel Adams Coles recorded "Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer" in 1963 for Capitol Records. The tune turned out to be as hot as the summer temperatures, reaching the sixth spot on the Billboard charts.
The lyrics were written by American Charles Tobias, and German born Hans Carste composed the music.
Interesting fact: Nat Cole took the sobriquet "King" from one of his old favorite childhood nursery rhymes, "Old King Cole".
| Everyone enjoys the feelings that come with a nice, warm embrace and sometimes just the thought of sharing one can be enough to get us feeling happy.
"I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" was a lively song that first appeared in the 1937 film "On the Town" starring Dick Powell and Alice Faye.
Can you name the prolific composer who wrote this tune? | Play "Misty" for Me : Weather Related Songs
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Irving Berlin. Irving Berlin wrote over 1,500 songs in his amazing six decade career.
Several popular versions of this song have been covered by a variety of artists.
Included among them are renditions by "Lady Day", Billie Holiday (1937); Dean Martin (1959); Francis Albert Sinatra (1961); and the guy who left his heart in San Francisco, Tony Bennett (1969).
Interesting fact: Irving Berlin, composer of many popular American standards such as "God Bless America", "Alexander's Ragtime Band", "Easter Parade", "White Christmas", and "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up In the Morning" (written for U.S. troops during WWII) was born Israel Baline in Tumun, Russia.
He lived 101 years, most of which he spent composing.
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